The art of shoeing horses is an old and often mysterious craft. In fact, the meaning of the term “farrier” has changed dramatically over the centuries from a horse doctor to a person who shoes horses. Many people are often surprised by the volume of treatments and remedies found in old farriery books. However, there is generally a lack of information on horseshoeing.
Farriers generally shoe horses for many reasons, such as protection for the hoof, to enhance performance, or for therapeutic reasons. In the case of a therapeutic shoe, features can be included in the shoe for corrective reasons to help make a horse sound, to relieve pain, and to correct for problems in the suspensory confirmation of a particular horse.
As is known by those of ordinary skill in the art, the front feet of a horse carries 65% of the load during movement, with the rear feet responsible for the 35% balance. Hence, health problems in horses tend to manifest in the front hooves rather than the rear hooves due to the increased load.
However, no system exists to allow qualified personnel such as a veterinarian to examine a horse and prescribe a corrective shoe in a standardized manner.